


closure

by WattStalf



Series: Mentoring [5]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, and peter is always underage, im always going to hell, kind of some closure?, they try to work out some issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-07-10 11:09:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6981922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Peter tries to figure out if they're dating or not, and Tony is <i>still</i> dragging his feet about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	closure

**Author's Note:**

> Christ, Tony, make up your damn mind.  
> ANYWAY, no porn in this one, but it's more relationship stuff. I'm going to be marking this series as complete, since this does give closure on it, but I might write some more PWP filth to post to it, so keep an eye out for that. I still have porn ideas!  
> 

Tony was reluctant to let Peter spend the night with him. It was too risky, he said, and things were working out just fine the way there are and the change just wasn't worth the risk. He had stopped fighting their...fling, for lack of better word, but whatever Peter did to try and progress it was met with resistance. Tony may have accepted the fact that they couldn't just end things, but he was having a hard time accepting that there could be a future.

Peter had meant it, when he said he thought he loved him. It was hard to tell, with his minimal experience, but he knew there was something more there than some petty crush. He couldn't get over the fact that Tony had really seen him, in a way that nobody else had, and that had stuck with him all this time. Now, he knew it had to mean something, and if it didn't mean he wasn't in love with him, he didn't know what it meant.

So whenever Tony tried to pull back, Peter had to push forward. He'd picked up a few of Tony's tricks in their time together, and had really become a force to be reckoned with. And though Tony insisted he could never stay over, Peter had his own plans in mind, and after enough nagging and begging and, finally, refusing to leave, he broke down.

"Just because it's late," he said. "But you've gotta be careful leaving tomorrow, and we're not making a habit of this."

He'd acted pissed off, irritated, but he was the one who put his lips on Peter's neck a few minutes after, and he was the one who looked oh-so-pleased when he had the younger man pinned beneath him in his bed. And, oh, it had been nice to finally move to the bed after so long, much better than a desk or lab table or couch. Peter could get used to that, already planning to make a habit of it despite Tony's rules.

The rest of the night passed in much the same way, and at some point, Peter must have fallen asleep, though he didn't remember doing so. But he woke up around three to find he was by himself in a bed much larger than his own, and he remembered that he was with Tony. Or, he was supposed to be with Tony, but the older man was nowhere to be found.

Peter hopped out of bed, still a little bleary from sleep, and stumbled into the adjoining bathroom. By the time he'd emerged, he was a bit more clear-headed, and he decided to hunt for Tony. It wasn't a short search, and he found the man sitting alone at the counter, head in his hands.

For a moment, Peter wondered if he had gotten up to get something to eat and fallen asleep at the counter, but when he got a little closer, Tony slowly looked up at him, an exhausted look in his eyes. He often looked like he needed a good night's sleep, but for the first time, Peter realized just how tired he really looked, and that there was more to that than a lack of sleep.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I woke up, and you weren't-"

"It's fine, kid. Don't worry about it. Just...go back to sleep, you shouldn't be up this late."

Peter wasn't sure how he felt about the fatherly way Tony sometimes tried to address him, but he knew how he felt about the way Tony would brush him off when things got serious, and he knew he didn't like it. Shaking his head, he came over and sat beside Tony at the counter.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, then immediately felt stupid. Of course something was wrong; a lot of things were wrong and Tony had looked particularly upset before his face had gone blank, trying to disguise how he really felt. "I mean...do you want to talk about it?"

Tony gave a bitter laugh. "We aren't talking about our feelings, alright? Definitely not mine."

"Then we can talk about mine," replied Peter, trying to channel the confidence he'd learned from Tony. "You don't have to like that I love you, but you can't act like I don't. And...and if there's something bothering you this much, you don't have to keep it from me. We're...together now...aren't we?"

"Oh my god," Tony groaned. "We really don't need to do this right now. Or ever."

"Then what are we doing right now?"

"You're going back to bed, and I'm sitting here or doing whatever the hell else I feel like."

"Just talk to me. Please." Peter really was worried about him, and he wished that bringing up their maybe-relationship was met with some sort of response rather than exasperation. They'd spent too much time not talk to avoid the things that they were afraid to say that now they didn't know how to talk to each other.

He expected Tony to brush him off again, but instead, he sighed before saying, "You really don't know what you're getting into with me. I'm not...I'm not exactly boyfriend material."

Peter blushed just from hearing the word said aloud. "Sure you are," he argued, and his blush deepened. "You're great...you're one of the smartest men alive and you're nicer than you give yourself credit for. I mean, you're Iron Man! I don't know why you think...I don't understand any of this."

"I can see that," he said. "You know, there's a reason I wasn't with Pepper when we met. I kept waiting for you to bring it up, but...I'm not the kind of guy you want a relationship with. I create more problems than I can solve, usually while trying to solve them. I get lost in my work and I'm terrible with people, and I come with a whole bunch of issues that you're way too young to have to worry about."

On the one hand, Tony was right that Peter didn't understand everything he went through, and he was probably right to say that Peter was too young to worry about some of his problems. But on the other hand, the whole reason this had worked out so far was because Peter didn't always act his age, and because he was capable of understanding more than the other kids. He wasn't going to let Tony push him away before he had the chance to try to understand, and he didn't want the prospect of a relationship to be thrown out the window without giving it a real shot.

"So what?" he asked, and he knew Tony had a response already prepared, but he didn't want to hear it. "No, really, so what? No one says I _have_ to worry about any of it, but I want to. And I want to understand this, and I want to understand you. I don't know what happened between you and...you know, her, but whatever it was didn't have anything to do with me, and I'm not her.

"As for creating problems, and for trying to solve them...I mean, we all make mistakes, and at least you do try to solve them. And, I mean, I'm smart, you've said it yourself. Maybe I can help solve problems too?" He took a breath before he continued with, "If you get lost in your work, it's not stuff I don't understand, and it's stuff I can try to include myself in, and you say you're not good with people, but I haven't seen any evidence of that at all. Before we met, I was...you know, a huge loser. To someone like me, you're always gonna be pretty damn cool. So...so I'm just saying that _I_ think you're the kind of guy I want a relationship with."

Tony honestly looked a little stunned by all that Peter said, and the sincerity of his words. And if he wanted to go on and tell Peter that he was just being naive, and that he still didn't know what he was talking about, he held back on that. He shook his head, laughing quietly to himself. "I really cannot believe this," he said. "Any of this, especially not the fact that I'm about to go along with this." He was giving Peter the benefit of the doubt, and he was finally giving this a real chance. "Fine. You know? It doesn't change that what we're doing has to be behind closed doors, but...there's no point in saying we can't be together when we already are."

Peter did what he could to contain his excitement, knowing that any sort of outburst could potentially startle Tony into backtracking and changing his mind. All he did was grin, but inside he was overjoyed. He didn't know how he had come to care for this lonely old man who simultaneously loved and hated himself so much, and he didn't care; he didn't even care that Tony hadn't said he loved him back yet. Whatever he was feeling, Peter knew better than to push it, and however much time Tony needed,h would give to him. But then his face fell, as he remembered how he had found Tony.

"So, what had you up?" he asked. "You did look pretty upset, and you never told me what was..."

"Mostly guilt," replied Tony. "About you, and us, but about a lot more than that. It's...it happens more than it should, kid. I tend to get caught up in myself, and I tend to get caught up in my failures as a result and some nights are a little harder than others. But don't worry about that right now."

He wanted to try to console the older man somehow, offer some sort of encouragement, but if Tony told him not to worry about it, then he probably didn't want to hear all of that, and Peter really wouldn't know what to say anyway. Instead, he scooted his stool closer and closer to Tony's until they were knee to knee, and then he climbed over, straddling Tony's lap. Their foreheads rested together for a moment before Peter closed the distance between them and gave Tony a long, deep kiss, hoping that he was actually good at such things now.

He didn't know how to console Tony or offer encouragement, he didn't know how to say anything to make things better, but he knew how to take his mind off of it, and when he felt the heat of his lover's- because boyfriend just didn't sound quite right- erection through both of their boxers, he knew that he had succeeded at that. There would be time in the future to worry about each and every problem Tony faced, and there would be time for Peter's problems as well. Tonight, now that he finally had some closure on what was going on between them, he thought it would be best if they both forgot together.


End file.
